I have been a bit lazy- basically anything that does not fit into comfortably into my other sections on Nice, I have plonked here. Much of the new town is laid out in a grid fashion and there are wide streets and squares. There are also notable museums including the Musée des Beaux-Arts and Mamac -The Musée d’art moderne et d’art contemporain, [photo, below left]. However we did not have the time to delve into this area for long.

Place Messena

This elegant square is just outside of the Old Town and was established in the 1840’s. The view north towards Avenue Jean Médecin has seven figures atop of metal poles which were designed by the Spanish artist Jaumne Plensa and installed in 2007. To the south is the Fontaine du Soleil with the Greek God Apollo at the centre which caused controversy when it was originally unveiled in the 1950’s. The full story is here, [read it, it’s funny!].

Jardin Albert 1er

This park lies to the west of Place Messena, just off the Promenade des Anglais. It is an oasis of tranquility in the centre of the city and there are interesting sculptures dotted around. The park is now one of thye venues for the Nice Jazz Festival.

Cathédrale Saint-Nicolas de Nice

The Russian Cathedral is situated outside of the town centre to the north of the train station. It’s the largest Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia. It was built in 1912 and is hidden from view until you turn the final corner of the residential street. I love Russian domed churches so it was worth the walk to have a look and we got a bus back.

I did stumble across a couple of record shops- The nicely laid out The Electric Monk and Sonic Imports where it was a struggle to get through the door!

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